Demountable device for transformation of treadle lever rocking movement into rotary movement of bicycle&#39;s drive shaft.

ABSTRACT

Demountable devices for transformation of treadle lever rocking movement into rotary movement of bicycle&#39;s drive shaft consist of two main units: redesigned driving unit for conventional bicycles and a reverse gear. Both units interact with each other through a flexible transmission. The devices can be mounted on most conventional bicycles. Bicycle&#39;s movement is provided by regular pressing of the cyclist&#39;s leg on the treadle lever. Length of the treadle lever can be adjustable.

This application is continuation-in part the United StatesNon-provisional application, which claim the benefit of U.S. Parentpatent application Ser. No. 14/120,914 Filed Jul. 7, 2014, the entiredisclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The invention realizes human-powered transmission designed to be mountedon vehicles such as bicycles, tricycles, wheelchairs, watercrafts, etc.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Over the years, there were many attempts to overcome the inherentinefficiencies of rotation treadle transmission used for bicycles andsimilar vehicles. The main mechanical and ergonomic problem is losing offorce/torque when treadle is closed to top and bottom dead points.Calculations show that elimination of “dead spots” could save up to 30%of muscular power (see “How to improve the bike” article by Doctor ofScience, Prof. Knopp). However, he proposed very complex solutions basedon gear entanglements. Japanese company “Alenax” patented similar device(U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,839, 1986). Using such device requires extensiveredesign of bicycle. In 2003-2006, Alenax released a modernized swingtreadle assembly unit with 6 speed modes, but it required rearrangementof driving chain sprocket unit, and had no commercial success. InventorTokunaga Yasuniko received the patent JP 20,110,070,183(A), which couldonly be applied to bicycles with rocking motion of crank-based mechanismand an extra chain unit. However, both manufacturing and usage of suchbicycles were too complex.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The purpose of the current invention is to optimize the design byallowing to implement transformation of movement types withoutincreasing complexity of production, and to increase exploitationreliability by using the device which can be mounted on the frame ofconventional vehicles without the requirement to redesign/replaceexisting driving axis and sprocket units. Another advantage of theproposed solution is that it is composed up to 80% from standard bicycleparts and units: bicycles's chain sprockets, one-way bearing rotationsimilar to CKR25PP (VXB.COM) or ratchet, etc.

Similar patent is U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,839

BRIEF DISCRETION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1a —A view of the right of a bicycle with present invention

FIG. 1b —A view of the left of a bicycle with present invention

FIG. 2—an assemble drawing of the redesigned drive unit.

FIG. 3—redesigned drive unit section.

FIG. 4—a side view of the redesigned drive unit following arrow “A”.

FIG. 5—outside view of the box treadle lever holder.

FIG. 6—section “A-A” of the treadle lever holder.

FIG. 7—a side view of the adapter.

FIG. 8—a section “B-B” of the adapter.

FIG. 9—the outside view of the treadle lever.

FIG. 10—side view of the drive extension.

FIG. 11—an assembly drawing of the reverse gear (FIG. 1)

FIG. 12—first embodiment of the reverse gear's section

FIG. 13—second embodiment of the reverse gear's section.

FIG. 14—another embodiment of the reverse gear's section.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring to FIG. 1-FIG. 14:

1-bicycle's frame, 100-the redesigned drive unit; 30-reverse gear; 40and 45-bicycle's chains, 2-bicycle's axle box, 3-leading driving shaft,4-an existing unit of chain sprockets for variable speed assemble withundetachable treadle lever 4′, 5-box for treadle lever's holder, 6-apedal, 7-adapter, 8-chain sprocket, 9-treadle lever, 10-additionaldriving shaft's extension, 11-one way bearing (ratchet), 12-collar nut,13-locking bolt, 14-box of reverse gear, 15-shaft of the reverse gear,16-cover of reverse gear, 18-lock of driving shaft, 19-screw foradjustment of the disk clamp, 17-clamp, 20-20′-cogwheels, 21-disk, 22,23-steel string (or cable), 24-I reverse shaft of another embodiment,25-cover, 26-box.

How to mount device on a bicycle and to use them.

Before installation, it is necessary to dismount standard pedal levers.After that, mount the redesigned drive unit 100 (see FIGS. 1a, 1b ), thereverse gear 30. If your bicycle model has a unit of sprockets installed(on its right side) for variable speed assemble with non-detachabletreadle lever 4 on FIG. 2, detach a pedal from the lever 4′, and attachadditional drive shaft extension 10 FIG. 3 to drive shaft 3. After,install Unit-200 and Unit-300 (see FIGS. 2, 3) and fix them with collarnut 12. (Unit-200 and Unit-300) have the same structure and the oppositedirection). Then attach lever (see FIG. 4) to box holder 5, customizelever length, and fix levers 9 and 9′ with collars nuts 13.

To mount transmission 40 and 45, follow the next steps:

1—Mount pedal lever 9 (FIG. 1) at the top position.

2—Fix end of chain 40 (FIG. 3) of sprocket 8.

3—Move the second end of chain 40 on sprocket 8 (FIG. 1b )

4—Install pedal lever 9′ (FIG. 1a ) at the bottom position.

5—Fix end of the chain “45” of sprocket 8′ (FIG. 3)

6—Fix another end of chain “45” at the sprocket 8′ (FIG. 1a )

Taking sit on the bicycle (see FIGS. 1a, 1b ; 3), press pedal 6. Torquewill be transferred through a one-way bearing 11(FIG. 3,) and willrotate driving shaft 3 (FIG. 3) through adapter 7. At the same time, thechain “40” cogwheel 20(FIG. 12) together with cogwheel 20′ sprocket 8and chain 45 in opposite direction. As a result, sprocket 8′ (throughthe chain “45”) rotates box “5”(FIG. 3). Box “5” has pedal lever 9′fixed on it, and pedal lever will be rotated counterclockwise to theupper position through one way bearing (ratchet) 11 and lift treadlelever 9′ and pedal 6′ to top position (FIG. 1b )

While pedal lever 9′ and pedal 6′ moving down, the process repeatscyclically.

For second and another embodiment, everything is going the same way. Theonly difference from first embodiment is a pair of disks FIG. 13installed instead of sprockets pair. For device another embodiment asecond pair of disks FIG. 14 installed instead of second sprockets pair.

1. A demountable device for transformation of treadle lever rockingmovement into rotary movement of bicycle's drive shaft comprising twotorque transferring units and one reverse reducer, which are connectedthrough a chain transmission.
 2. The demountable device of claim 1further comprising a box holder with an external treadle lever, and adrive sprocket fixed on it.
 3. The demountable device of claim 1 whereinthe treadle levers away in parallel plains and in opposite directionsand wherein lever's motion axis is coincident with the bicycle's driveshaft axis.
 4. The demountable device of claim 1 wherein diameters ofthe sprockets mounted on the axis of rotation unit are identical to eachother.
 5. The demountable device of claim 1 wherein reverse reducercontains two shafts with identical cogwheel inside and two identicalsprockets fixed on each shaft (one sprocket per shaft) outside.
 6. Thedemountable device of claim 2 further comprising one-way clutch (orratchet) inside wherein outer(driving) part of the clutch is fixed onthe unit's box countershaft and part of the clutch is integrated withthe adapter for transferring of torque to the drive shaft of bicycle. 7.The demountable device of claim 2, wherein the unit mounted onto theleft side of the bicycle rotates counterclockwise, while the unitmounted onto the right side of the bicycle rotates clockwise.
 8. Thedemountable device of claim 2 wherein the lever's length is adjusted bymoving it along the longitudinal box groove and is fixed with screwbolt.
 9. the demountable device of claim 5 wherein shaft's axes areparallel to the bicycles drive shaft axis and driving shaft's sprocketsand countershaft sprockets located on the same bicycle side rotate inthe same plane.